Sandra Stein, longtime executive vice president of the Institute for Law and Economic Policy, writes in as follows in response to our Friday posting on the Examiner series:

I'd like to respond to your posting regarding the Washington Examiner's smear campaign against ILEP last week and perhaps answer one of the questions you raise: why mainstream publications have not picked up this story. The answer is because there is no story. As you probably saw, the Examiner ran the series under the tag of "Editorial Commentary," thereby removing any need for journalistic standards or the requirement of legitimate facts.

Please be advised the Washington Examiner has a pro-business, anti-shareholder/investor reputation. The owner of this paper is Philip Anschutz, a billionaire, who also owns Qwest Communications. Philip Anschutz recently settled a shareholder class action suit against Qwest for $400 million, which was filed by the real targets of this smear campaign, Milberg Weiss and Bill Lerach. This smear campaign by the Washington Examiner is based on falsehoods and is motivated by retribution and revenge.

Edward Labaton, ILEP's president, has done an outstanding job. He has been the motivating force behind fourteen ILEP symposia where fair and balanced scholarly works have been presented. These symposia papers have been published by objective and highly regarded law reviews across the country. A listing is attached for your review. Please be advised that references to Mr. Labaton's son, Stephen Labaton, a prize winning NY Times reporter, are completely inappropriate. Stephen Labaton is not affiliated with ILEP in any way.

Since 1995, ILEP has successfully partnered with some of the most distinguished law reviews, scholars, judges, practitioners, and government officials in America. A sampling of ILEP speakers are as follows: United States Senator Jon Kyl; Professor Joseph Grundfest, Stanford Law School; Professor James Cox, Duke University School of Law; Professor John Coffee, Columbia University School of Law; and President Joel Seligman, University of Rochester, formerly Dean of the Washington University School of Law. Please see attached sampling of ILEP speakers. As you can see, the speakers at ILEP symposia have represented a wide range of views from pro business to pro shareholder/investor points of view, and participate on a voluntary basis. As a non-profit foundation, ILEP has been clear in its efforts to enhance access to the civil justice system for all consumers and investors.

The false and malicious stories that comprise the Washington Examiner's smear campaign against ILEP are clearly borne out of a desire to prevent reasoned, objective discourse concerning access to the courts for defrauded shareholders and investors. The independent law reviews that memorialize each symposia are prestigious examples of the foundation's work.

Sandra Stein, Esquire
ILEP Founder

[Update: a response from editorial page editor Mark Tapscott of the Washington Examiner is here]

I didn't realize it was a faux pas to inform readers of Mr. Labaton's family connection with the New York Times, since it was a connection he listed with what would be understandable pride on his online biography inyearspast (his current bio is here). At any rate, what follows is the text of the two attachments to Ms. Stein's note, one listing ILEP's symposiums and subsequent publication record at law reviews, and the other listing a sampling of its conference presenters. They are slightly reformatted for clarity.

SYMPOSIA SPONSORED BY ILEP

Subject & Publication/ Co-Sponsor

Class Actions at the Crossroads / University of Arizona College of Law
December 13th & 14th 1996
Arizona Law Review Volume 39 No. 2 (1997)

A Ten Year Retrospective on Litigation Reform / Columbia University School of Law
May 5, 2006
Columbia Law Review

Institutional Investor Activism: the Evolving Role of Institutional Investors in Corporate Governance & Corporate Litigation / Vanderbilt University School of Law
April 19th & 20th, 2007
Vanderbilt Law Review

The Continuing Evolution of Securities Class Actions / University of Wisconsin Law School
April 10th & 11th, 2008
Wisconsin Law Review

Institute for Law and Economic Policy
Sampling of ILEP Speakers

Honorable Harvey Goldschmid
Dwight Professor of Law
Columbia University School of Law
Former SEC Commissioner

United States Senator Jon Kyl
United States Senate, Arizona

Professor Joseph A. Grundfest
Stanford Law School

Professor James Cox
Duke University School of Law

Professor John C. Coffee
Columbia University School of Law

Joel Seligman
President, University of Rochester
Formerly Dean of the Washington University School of Law